Warwick Country Club was organized in December 1924 on the former Shepley estate at Warwick Neck; the membership then hired Donald J. Ross to plan a golf course on the bayfront property. The club’s historical summary records that nine holes opened in 1925, with the enterprise initially styled as a country and yacht club. The bay location proved both an asset and a vulnerability. Two devastating hurricanes—1938 and 1944—damaged the waterfront elements of the club, but golf remained the institution’s sporting backbone while the yachting program eventually ceased.
Only in the prosperous post-war decade did Warwick move to a full 18. In 1954, Geoffrey S. Cornish was engaged to add a second nine. The dedication of the new holes was famously followed the very next day by Hurricane Carol, which again forced cleanup and repairs. The Cornish work completed the 18-hole framework that, with incremental improvements, remains in place today.
The most consequential modern intervention came in 1997, when the club commissioned architect Ron Prichard to “return to Ross.” Club materials describe that project explicitly as a restoration to the original Ross design ideals. While the club’s public-facing summaries do not publish plan sets or a blow-by-blow of the work, contemporary accounts and Prichard’s broader restoration practice suggest the emphasis was on restoring bunker forms and placements, reclaiming green surfaces at the edges, and removing encroaching trees to recover intended playing widths and wind exposure. The result preserved the 18-hole composition (including the Cornish nine) while strengthening the Ross identity across the whole.
In recent seasons Warwick has continued routine course improvements and has remained an active championship venue for the Rhode Island Golf Association, including the 119th State Amateur during the club’s centennial year and additional matches scheduled thereafter.
Unique Design Characteristics
Warwick’s most distinctive attribute is how its routing exploits the neck of land to bring the bay into view on virtually every hole. The course’s par-69 composition—with one par five (the 15th) and a quartet of par threes (7, 9, 13, 17)—pushes the strategic center of gravity toward mid-iron approach play and short-game control. The official card’s hole-by-hole confirms this rhythm: an outward 34 balanced by an inward 35, for 6,562 yards from the back set in the commonly published configuration.
Breezes off Narragansett Bay govern the angles. Several par fours demand that the tee shot choose between a safer line that yields a semi-blind or oblique approach versus a bolder drive that opens the green. The downhill finisher, the 18th (low 420s from the back tee), descends toward the clubhouse and the water; two flanking bunkers guard the sides, but the front apron invites a chased-in approach when the hole plays downwind. The lone par five at 15 (upper-470s) tempts strong players to attack in two when the wind cooperates but narrows quickly near the green, so a lay-up to a favored wedge distance often proves shrewd.
Greens are compact with interior motions—ridges, shoulders, and subtle bowls—rather than broad, featureless expanses. On the shorter par threes (notably 13 and 17), small entrances and firm surrounds make holding the correct tier the essence of the hole; on mid-length par fours such as 16 (≈460), the green orientation magnifies the advantage of finding the proper side of the fairway from the tee. These are course-specific, present-day observations supported by the club’s card and multiple independent yardage listings; they also align with the restorative intent of the 1997 work.
As for identifying the clearest surviving examples of Ross’s original nine, the club’s public materials confirm Ross’s authorship of the 1925 nine but do not publish a definitive mapping of which current numbered holes correspond precisely to that first loop. Various modern commentaries speculate that several shoreline and clubhouse-proximate corridors are Ross originals, but without an official overlay or authenticated plan set it is prudent to treat those attributions as hypotheses rather than established fact.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s broader body of work, Warwick is one of his coastal New England projects where water and wind, not dunes, define the experience. The course’s historical arc—Ross’s bayfront nine (1925), Cornish’s completion to 18 (1954), and a late-20th-century restoration to Ross character (1997)—makes it an instructive case study in how a club with mixed authorship can lean into its founding architect’s identity without erasing later contributions. The club’s centennial brought renewed attention from Rhode Island’s golf community; the Rhode Island Golf Association selected Warwick to stage its 119th State Amateur, a signal that the course’s challenge and conditioning remain championship-ready at state level. As one of several Ross-connected courses in the state, Warwick also contributes to understanding how Ross adapted strategic, wind-aware golf to small, peninsular terrain with limited length but abundant exposure.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing and par. The 18-hole routing established by mid-century remains intact, with the modern card documenting par 69 and a back-tee yardage published around 6,500–6,600 yards. The only par five appears on the inward half, and the course finishes with a par four that runs downhill toward the water and clubhouse.
Ross fabric on the ground. On the evidence publicly available, Warwick retains the framework of Ross’s 1925 work within an 18-hole course completed by Cornish. The 1997 Prichard program aimed to restore Ross character, which, in practice at comparable clubs, has meant recapturing original green perimeters (especially lost corner pin positions), rebuilding or repositioning bunkers in period-appropriate forms, and reopening playing corridors and vistas compromised by tree growth. That intent is explicit in club materials and accords with Prichard’s long record of Ross restorations. Without access to the 1997 construction documents or to authenticated Ross plans, it is not possible to state definitively which green pads at Warwick are original in exact geometry versus reconstructed to period style.
Preserved versus altered.
Preserved: the coastal siting with pervasive bay views; the par-69 structure and one-par-five inward half; the short-to-mid iron emphasis that comes with small, contoured greens and wind-influenced approaches; the downhill, view-laden finish.
Altered/modernized: bunker construction details and edges consistent with late-1990s restoration standards; tee additions and back-tee lengthening to produce present-day yardages near 6,500–6,600 yards; ongoing tree management to sustain turf and re-expose wind and angles.
Unknowns (pending primary research): a definitive mapping of Ross’s 1925 nine to today’s hole numbers; original green sizes and exact perimeters; the extent to which Cornish’s 1954 additions altered any Ross corridors; and the full scope of the 1997 works by feature and by hole.
The club’s history page is unusually forthcoming about the foundational chronology—1925 opening for the first nine, Cornish’s second nine in 1954, and the 1997 “Return to Ross”—and about the club’s origins as a country and yacht club. The club’s scorecard page (downloadable image) and home page establish present-day par and approximate yardage. The Rhode Island Golf Association has published concise historical summaries in advance of state competitions at Warwick, confirming the 1924 organization date, 1925 opening, and 1954 Cornish work. What remains uncertain from publicly available sources are the exact identities of the nine Ross holes within the current numbering and the precise scope of Prichard’s 1997 restoration at the level of individual greens and bunkers; both would require plan-level documentation or authenticated aerials.
Sources & Notes
Warwick Country Club — “Club History.” Establishes club founding (Dec. 15, 1924), opening of golf (1925, nine holes by Donald Ross), hurricanes (1938, 1944), addition of second nine by Geoffrey Cornish (1954), and “Return to Ross” restoration under Ron Prichard (1997).
Warwick Country Club — Home page. States “18-hole Donald Ross designed course,” par 69, ≈6,600 yards, and the bayfront siting that defines play.
Rhode Island Golf Association — “Warwick CC To Host 119th State Amateur Championship.” Confirms club established 1924; Ross nine opened 1925; Cornish second nine 1954; championship hosting during centennial. Rhode Island Golf Association — “Warwick CC to Host 2025 Tri-State Matches.” Reiterates founding/1925/1954 chronology and notes recent championship hosting. Top100GolfCourses — “Warwick.” Independent profile noting 1924 founding, Ross nine followed by Cornish completion “thirty years” later, late-1990s restoration by Ron Prichard, par 69 and ≈6,500 yards, and pervasive bay views.
GolfCourseGurus — “Warwick Country Club.” Describes the downhill character and flanking bunkers of No. 18, supporting the present-day design note about a chased-in approach option to the closing green.
Golf Digest (state listing) — “Warwick Country Club.” Notes Ross authorship of the first nine and subsequent completion to 18, with Cornish involvement.
Golf Course Architecture, General context on Prichard’s restoration practice. Industry coverage of Ron Prichard’s approach to restoring classic-era courses; used here for methodological context when interpreting the club’s “Return to Ross” language, not as a substitute for Warwick-specific plans. https://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/content/the-father-of-restoration